Railroad car and drop-floor arrangement therefor



Aug. 30, 1966 J. G. KNEILING 3,259,332

RAILROAD CAR AND DROP-FLOOR ARRANGEMENT THEREFOR Original Filed Dec. 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 7

A TTORNEVS 0, 1966 J. G. KNEILiNG 3,

RAILROAD CAR AND DROP-FLOOR ARRANGEMENT THEREFOR Original Filed Dec. 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

Fla 5 INVENTOR.

JOHN B. KMF/L/NO BY W We A TUPNEVS' United States Patent T 3,269,332 RAILRUAD CAR AND DROP-FLO0R ARRANGEMENT THEREFGR John G. Kneiling, Staten Island, N.Y., assignor to Devenco Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Original application Dec. 28, 1962, Ser. No. 248,017, now Patent No. 3,199,463, dated Aug. 10, 1965. Divided and this application Dec. 24, 1964, Ser. No. 420,948

3 Claims. (Cl. 105-240) This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 248,017, filed December 28, 1962, now Patent Number 3,199,463, issued August 10, 1965.

This invention relates to cargo-carrying compartments for railroad trains, and more particularly to a drop-floor arrangement for such compartments.

As used herein, the term compartment refers to a unit analogous to a conventional railroad car; however, the term compartment is used so that the Wording of this application conforms to the terminology of the application mentioned above.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a greatly improved drop-floor arrangement, as compared to conventional arrangements, whereby hinged door sections, centrally located, are adapted in an eflicient and reliable manner to open the floor of the compartment to allow the contents to be discharged.

It is another object of the invention to provide the walls of the compartment with heating means to insure that the contents do not adhere to the walls, when the floor is opened, under conditions of freezing ambient temperatures.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partially broken away and in section, of a compartment of the type to which this invention relates;

FIG. 2 is a plan view, partially broken away, of the two four-wheel trucks upon which a single compartment rests; and

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical cross-sectional view through the body of a single compartment.

The cargo-carrying compartment chosen to illustrate this invention comprises generally a body portion 22 resting on two four-wheel trucks. The body 22 has a center sill 23 extending longitudinally with respect to it, side walls 32, end walls 33, and bottom walls 34 sloping inwardly and downwardly from the lower edges of the side walls. In the present illustration, the center sill 23 comprises two angles welded together to form hollow members having a square cross-section. Obviously, however, the shape of the center sill may be altered and a solid member may be employed. The advantages of employing a hollow center sill are weight reduction and the fact that the interior of the sill may be used as a reservoir for high-pressure air employed to operate the doors of the compartment.

Welded to each end of the center sill 23 is a body bolster 41 carrying a king pin 42 by means of which a drawbar 12 is permanently articulated to the compartment, or if the compartment is at an end of its car, a separable coupling element 13 is secured to the king pin 42 through a cast or welded rigid draft sill (not shown) rigidly secured to the body bolster.

The two four-wheel trucks (FIGS. 1 and 2) upon which the compartment body 22 rests are located at either end of the body, and each truck includes an inverted U-shaped truck bolster 43 directly beneath the body bolster 41 located at that end of the center sill. The upper face of 3 ,269,332 Patented August 30, 1966 the truck bolster 43 presents an upstanding circular flange 44 which is accommodated by a larger circular flange 45 projecting downwardly from the lower face of the body bolster 41. This interengagement between truck and body permits pivotal movement of the truck with respect to the body but prevents the truck from slipping out from beneath the body. At each end of the truck bolster is a side frame 46 upon which the truck bolster rests through the medium of a spring 47. Each side frame accommodates two bearings in which the ends of the axles 50 carrying the wheels 51 are journaled.

The doors 25 and 26 (see FIG. 3) are bottom gates, extending longitudinally with respect to the body, hinged to the center sill by means of hinges 27 and 28, respectively, and are normally held in closed condition by means of latches 31 which cooperate with the lower edges of the bottom walls 34. Means, such as pneumatic cylinders (not shown), are provided for opening the latches to permit the doors to swing open in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 3. Hanging the doors 25 and 26 from the center sill rather than from an exterior part of the compartment is advantageous, since as a result, the opening in the bottom of the compartment is narrower and the receptacle below the car intended to receive the cargo may be narrower permitting greater flexibility and economy in terminal design. In addition, providing the hinges 27 and 28 along the center sill rather than along an exterior portion of the compartment saves the hinges from accidental injury to which they would be susceptible if located in the more exposed position, and permits a malfunctioning car to be moved safely to a repair shop.

Closing of the doors 25 and 26 is effected by means of door closers 35 and 36 which may be pneumatic pistoncylinder devices as shown. The means for supplying air under pressure to the cylinders 35 and 36, and the means for controlling the pressurizing and exhausting of the cylinders form no part of this invention, and any suitable conventional means may be employed. However, as mentioned above, it is desirable to use the hollow center sill 23 as the pressurized air reservoir. Each such device is connected between a bracket 37 on the center sill 23 and a bracket 38 on the door to which it is allocated. The closers 35 and 36 are staggered along the center sill so that they do not interfere with one another. When the doors 25 and 26 are to be closed, the piston-cylinder devices are actuated and the doors are swung upwardly until their latches 31 engage the bottom walls 34 of the compartment and lock the doors in closed condition.

When the compartment is carrying a cargo such as coal or the like, there is a tendency for the portion of the cargo in contact with the walls of the compartment to stick to the walls when the ambient temperature drops below the freezing point. If this happens, the portion of the cargo adhering to the compartment walls does not flow out of the compartment when the doors 25 and 26 are opened. To avoid this undesirable circumstance, the side walls 32, end wall 33, and bottom walls 34 are provided with heating means, such as electrical heating elements 56 protected by suitable insulation 57. The heating means aid the release of the cargo from the compartment walls under conditions of low ambient temperatures.

The invention has been shown and described in preferred form only and by way of example and many variations may be made which will fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. It is understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A drop-floor railroad car unit adapted to carry coal and like freight, comprising longitudinally extending side walls, transverse end walls, a center sill extending along a longitudinal center line of the car unit, a floor, said floor including on each side of the center sill an inwardly and downwardly sloping fixed outer section secured to the lower edge of the side wall and an outwardly and downwardly sloping inner door section hinged to the center sill, latch means holding said sections together with their lower edges in floor-closing proximity, pneumatic means for releasing said latch means to permit said door sections to drop open, and pneumatic means for reclosing said door sections, said door-closing pneumatic means including a piston-cylinder device operatively interposed between the center sill and each door section.

2. In a railroad car unit, the elements set forth in claim 1 including electrical heating means and insulation associated with the walls of said car unit for aiding release of the coal from the walls under conditions of freezing ambient temperatures.

3. A railroad car unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said center sill is formed by two elongated angle members welded together to produce a member having a square cross-section, and said center sill is mounted with its walls at substantially to the horizontal, each of said door sections being hinged to an edge of said sill intermediate the uppermost and lowermost edges of said sill.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,302,533 5/1919 Foote -451 1,810,718 6/1931 Lord 105199 2,519,320 8/1950 Meldrum 105-416 2,624,293 1/1953 Dorey 105308 2,936,911 5/1960 Fath et al 105-240 X 2,945,938 7/1960 Alvord 105-451 X 7 2,989,930 6/1961 Flowers 105-287 X 3,199,463 8/1965 Kneiling 1051 FOREIGN PATENTS 25,338 6/1903 Great Britain.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. F. W. MONAGHAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DROP-FLOOR RAILROAD CAR UNIT ADAPTED TO CARRY COAL AND LIKE FREIGHT, COMPRISING LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS, TRANSVERSE END WALLS, A CENTER SILL EXTENDING ALONG A LONGITUDINAL CENTER LINE OF THE CAR UNIT, A FLOOR, SAID FLOOR INCLUDING ON EACH SIDE OF THE CENTER SILL AN INWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY SLOPING FIXED OUTER SECTION SECURED TO THE LOWER EDGE OF THE SIDE WALL AND AN OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY SLOPING INNER DOOR SECTION HINGED TO THE CENTER SILL, LATCH MEANS HOLDING SAID SECTIONS TOGETHER WITH THEIR LOWER EDGES IN FLOOR-CLOSING PROXIMITY, PNEUMATIC MEANS FOR RELEASING SAID LATCH MEANS TO PERMIT SAID DOOR SECTIONS TO DROP OPEN, AND PNEUMATIC MEANS FOR RECLOSING SAID DOOR SECTIONS, SAID DOOR-CLOSING PNEUMATIC MEANS IN- 